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The Wedge: The 25 Best Albums From The First Half Of 2011

June 27th, 2011

It’s that time of the year again. Six months in and the best albums of 2011 so far are being considered. So far Gorilla Vs Bear, SPIN, Stereogum and NPR have all weighed in. And since everyone’s doing it, well, we figured The Wedge should pitch in its two cents.

If you tune in weekly to The Wedge, you’ll probably recognize the likes of Yuck, Shabazz Palaces, James Blake, Toro y Moi, Iceage, Cat’s Eyes, Destroyer, Cloud Nothings, Bon Iver, and of course, host Damian Abraham’s own band Fucked Up. We’ve aired videos by all of these artists and hopefully by the end of the year we’ll do the same for the rest of the bunch.

This week on the show, we’ve chosen our favourite ten videos that have aired on The Wedge so far this year. We don’t want to give away the list, but if you’ve been tuning in you should have an idea of which ones made the cut.

But for now, here are 25 albums we recommend picking up at your local record shop.

Julianna Barwick The Magic Place (Asthmatic Kitty)

James Blake James Blake (Polydor)

Bon Iver Bon Iver (Jagjaguwar)

Cat’s Eyes Cat’s Eyes (Co-Op)

Cloud Nothings Cloud Nothings (Carpark)

Destroyer Kaputt (Merge)

Ford & Lopatin Channel Pressure (Software)

Fucked Up David Comes To Life (Matador)

Gang Gang Dance Eye Contact (4AD)

Grouper A I A: Dream Loss/Alien Observer (Yellow Electric)

PJ Harvey Let England Shake (Vagrant)

Tim Hecker Ravedeath, 1972 (Kranky)

Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie xx We’re New Here (XL)

Holy Other With U (Tri-Angle)

Iceage New Brigade (What’s Yr Rupture?)

Liturgy Aesthetica (Thrill Jockey)

John Maus We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves (Upset the Rhythm/Ribbon)